Since Mark and Anne Metzger moved to the country, they've spent much of their free time gardening, canning and caring for their livestock. A few chickens and some pigs will provide the couple with home-grown eggs and meat.

“My plan was pretty small. Apparently the universe had different ideas.”
~ Eric Cotton

Above right: Eric Cotton gained experience on a friend's vineyard, to which he now tends. Adjacent photos: Geese roam the pasture at the Metzger's rented farm. Apples, onions and squash from the Metzgers garden.






The Metzgers have relied on Mark's experiences growing up in rural Ohio to guide them on their farming endeavors.

sampling the simple life

Farm living has appeal for next generation Farm Bureau members

Story by Seth Teter | Photos by Jodi Miller

Mark Metzger has a hard time remembering where his time went before he moved to a more than 125-year old farmhouse in the Greene County countryside.

“I don’t even know what I did. I must have been bored out of my mind,” said Metzger, who is the managing artistic director of the Town Hall Theatre in Centerville and a Greene County Farm Bureau member.

Now his spare time goes to collecting eggs, weeding the garden, butchering chickens and feeding pigs.
“You don’t tend to sit in front of a TV very much,” he said.

All of this came after Metzger and his wife Anne, a doctor of pharmacology, needed a place to live that would allow them each to commute to work. They had an opportunity to rent the farmhouse, which sits in the middle of 150 acres that a local farmer uses to grow corn and soybeans.

Neva Dean, owner of the property and also a Farm Bureau member, said she warned the Metzgers that life could be tough in the country.

“I explained it might be comparable to living in ‘Little House on the Prairie’ but they were not discouraged by a long lane (often a problem with winter snows) nor any other inconvenience of which I could advise them,” she wrote in a letter to Our Ohio.

For Mark, who grew up in rural Knox County, it was a return to his roots. “My dad is quite proud of me,” he said.

For Anne, a native of Centerville, it was an entirely new experience. “I’m still surprised on a daily basis that she’s letting us do this,” Metzger said of his wife’s enjoyment of their farm life.

Small is big
Perhaps it’s an unexpected trend. Long hours, little free time and hard, dirty labor. It’s not exactly what most people say they want to come home to after a day at the office.

However, not only do more people seem to want to sample the rewards of farm life, but the number of small farms is also on the rise. According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the most recent survey conducted, the number of farms with sales of less than $10,000 rose, while there was a decline in the number of higher grossing farms.

Even for many larger scale farm families, it is not unusual for one or both spouses to rely on off-farm employment. In 2009, the average family farm was forecast to receive only 8.7 percent of its household income from farm sources, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Last year, Ohio Farm Bureau held its first Grow and Know event, which drew scores of people interested in topics such as gardening, canning, beekeeping and raising chickens.

“Folks want to get back to basics. It’s a hot topic right now,” said Janet Cassidy, Ohio Farm Bureau senior director of marketing communications.

Cassidy said recent economic troubles got people thinking about how to be more self sufficient. “It’s really about growing and preserving your own food. Gardening a little more. And just sort of enjoying a simpler lifestyle,” she said.

‘A lot of work’
In Lake County, Eric Cotton, a chemical engineer by training, said he’s not quite sure why he ended up spending his nights and weekends tending to a vineyard.

“My mother’s family planted vineyards in California in the 1800s. Maybe it’s a particular genetic defect,” he suggested.

Cotton grew up on a farm raising hogs and chickens “and any other animal that wandered in the yard,” he said.
The native Arizonan studied at Iowa State University and eventually took a job east of Cleveland.

“(Growing grapes) is something that has been in the back of my head for a long, long time,” he said. After all, grapes are easier to take care of than pigs. “It’s a lot of work, but you don’t have to get up at 5 a.m. and feed the grapes. You don’t have to go out when it’s 10 (degrees) below (zero) and break ice so your grapes can get a drink of water,” he said.

Several years ago, Cotton, who still works as a project manager for a local company, began looking for land and eventually bought a piece of property, which he cleared to make way for the vineyard. He found himself taking care of another nearby vineyard, when its owner – who was also Cotton’s mentor – lost a battle with cancer.

Cotton’s brother recently bought a neighboring property and they are now working to clear that piece of land.
“My plan was pretty small,” Cotton said. “Apparently the universe had different ideas.”

Cotton said he likes to watch the day-to-day progress on his farm. “It’s just a lot of work,” he said. Although his days often don’t end until the sun goes down, he said the job was what he had expected.

“It is incredibly satisfying at the end of the day to turn around and see what you’ve done,” he said.

But farm living isn’t the life for everyone. Metzger said that friends can be somewhat perplexed by his new lifestyle, especially when it comes to taking an animal from their barnyard to the dinner table. And farming, even as a hobby, not only takes a significant financial investment, it’s a big time commitment, Metzger said.

“You end up being a weekend warrior on your own property,” he said.

So far, it has been worth it. He and Anne like knowing where their food comes from. As for clearing that long driveway, Metzger said helpful country neighbors have made getting his car through the snow easier than it ever was in the city.

His commitment to farm life does have its limits, though. Knowing the daily requirements of a dairy farmer, he firmly states “We’re not going to milk anything.”

To comment on this article: e-mail info@ourohio.org, or log on to facebook.com/OurOhio or twitter.com/OurOhio.

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Events coming near you:
April 17 | Malabar Farm, Lucas
May 22 | Bob Evans Farm, Rio Grande
June 5 | Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus
Oct. 23 | Lake Metroparks Farmpark, Kirtland
Nov. 7 | Grow & Know for the Holidays — Woodhaven Farm, Johnstown

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